Bowls: Festival fours closing date extended in desperation

The future of the Dunedin Festival Fours is in doubt. Only 10 teams have entered this season's event and four more are needed for the event to be held.

Tournament secretary Bryan Buchanan told the Otago Daily Times the 60th Festival Fours would be cancelled if organisers did not get four more teams before the closing date.

‘‘It would be terrible to lose it but if we do not get enough entries, the event could fold,'' he said.

The closing date for entries has been extended to 5pm next Wednesday in the hope that late entries would swell the numbers.

The event is scheduled to be held on Saturday, January 2, and Sunday, January 3.

The event was first held in 1955 by the Kaituna Bowling Club as part of Dunedin's Festival Week and has been organised by the Kaikorai Club since 2005 after Kaituna went into recess.

It used to be held over five days and was popular with out-of-town teams that enjoyed having a week in the city.

The numbers are not as big as a decade ago. But this has been the trend for events organised by clubs over recent years.

The format was changed last season, with eight 12-end games played by all teams and the winner of the $2000 first prize decided on a points system.

Teams get 20 points for a win and 10 for a draw and one point for each end won.

Organising committee member Keith Ellwood said if the four extra teams did not come forward, the event would be canned and it would be back to the drawing board.

‘‘We don't want to lose it and we will look at all options to keep the event going, but we need more entries,'' he said.

The event was not held in 2014 when the New Zealand open championships were held in Dunedin at the same time.

The problem this year was that it clashed with the New Zealand championships being held at Christchurch and many Otago bowlers had opted to play in that event.

Out of town teams entered so far this year are Bruce Kelly (Oamaru) and Wynston McLachlan (Clinton).

Entries should be sent to Buck Buchanan at PO Box 5091, Dunedin, or telephone (03) 466-7666.

 

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